BPL Refrigerator - from Rajkamal Electronics Pvt Ltd, Chikkadpally, Hyderabad - didn't cool - discovered timer wire was cut

# 2 for May 20, 2003

Complaints.com received the following on May 19, 2003:

From: nagaraju malyala [Email User]

RE: BPL Refrigerator - from Rajkamal Electronics Pvt Ltd, Chikkadpally, Hyderabad - didn't cool - discovered timer wire was cut May 19, 2003 The Manager Customer Care BPL Limited Dear Sir, We purchased a BPL Refrigerator 250 (2) – serial no. 21172 on October 18, 1997 through Rajkamal Electronics Pvt Ltd, Chikkadpally, Hyderabad vide invoice no 103804. The technicians who came to install the appliance unpacked it, connected it to power and left saying that it would take a few hours to begin cooling. We waited with excitement and expectation till the next morning, hanging around and trying to feel the coolness inside every half an hour. The joy of our acquiring an appliance from a reputed company did not last even a day, as we realized that it was not working at all. We reached the dealer immediately requesting help. As nothing happened, we lodged a formal complaint RJ(I) on 11.12.1997 and reminded on 12.12.1997 and 13.12.1997, when finally a technician by name Samarpan visited us, tested the refrigerator and replaced the timer and assured us that it was a minor problem and that it was set right.

With renewed hope and expectation, we waited for half a day for it to begin working. But to our shock and alarm, the instrument did not show any signs of cooling anything. We made another complaint 223/56 on 21.12.1997, but there was no immediate response. Utterly disappointed and frustrated, we repeated the complaint on 23.12.1997 - RT(6). A service engineer by name Vithobha called on us and checked up the system and discovered that the timer wire was cut. He said that the timer was unnecessarily replaced while all it needed was a reconnection and that he was doing it. Nevertheless, there was nowhere an end near with the problem persisting, despite our unremitting complaints. We have not kept a record of everyone of them. Some of the recorded ones are 18F 001 made to Secunderabad on Phone: 77188788; 18F 003 to Ameerpet on Phone 3751400 and 21F 004 on 21.09.2000. It needed me sheer tenacity and persistence to put pressure on the service center to send someone. A technician who visited us on 21.09.2000 examined the refrigerator, or shall we call it an cupboard now, and said that he was replacing the timer, bimetal and f gasket and asked us to pay him Rs 1290/- for the spares. We tried reasoning with him that we did not have to pay as the complaint was there since the first day and in fact we had already suffered great agony with it. However, we paid him the money under protest against receipt no 365. As it still did not work, the thermostat was replaced on 13.11.2000. That is not the end of the story yet. The refrigerator was still not working. Apart from the intermittent tele complaints, we called Mr Saleem, BPL Dealer on 98490-56725, Mr Jaikishore on 329428 and Mr Satyanarayana on 3073111. We explored every possibility, followed every thread given by everybody, talked to whomever we could, wrote to all and sundry and kept up our perseverance. The gadget, a white elephant, is still lying there occupying precious space in the kitchen, eternally reminding us how sadly we were mistaken in our choice. What worries us even greater is that a company that boasts of 300 service stations and thousands of service personnel does not have even one fully trained technician who can diagnose, detect and set right a problem with a new product. It has been such an exasperating experience with the product that we are tempted to tell everybody that they should never even go near a BPL product. We are sure you appreciate how maddening and infuriating it is to spend our hard earned money on a domestic product after months of dreaming, planning, consulting, window shopping and finally bringing it home only to realize that it does not work! We shall be greatly obliged to you if you could do something to fix the problem. M V Thimayya Gupta Phone: 040 23732952 203, Shivaganga Apartments 7-1-29/B/13 Leelanagar, Ameerpet Hyderabad – 500 016